Saudi projects are in a race to beat congestion
24 February 2023
Commentary
Colin Foreman
Editor
The scale and ambition of Saudi Arabia’s projects attract worldwide attention. Whether it be The Line with its 170-kilometre-long mirrored buildings or, most recently, the New Murabba project in Riyadh with its 400-metre-cubed Mukaab building, projects in Saudi Arabia are testing the boundaries of modern urban design.
While these projects will rely heavily on new technologies, the core principle for their development is accessibility based on the most basic form of transport: walking.
“The New Murabba project will offer a unique living, working and entertainment experience within a 15-minute walking radius and will have its own internal transport system. It will be approximately 20-minutes drive from the airport,” said the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in its statement launching the project in mid-February.
Similarly, when The Line building was launched last year, Neom said: “Residents will also have access to all facilities in The Line within a five-minute walk, in addition to a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes.”
The aspiration to move away from a traditional automobile society is a logical step given the chronic congestion many people in the kingdom face.
The scale of the problem was highlighted earlier this year when it was reported that 16 million trips are taken each day in Riyadh. Of these, over 89 per cent are made by private cars, with public transport accounting for only 2 per cent.
In response, the General Traffic Department is considering plans to change school and university timings and promote remote working for government employees.
The hope is that these measures will only be temporary, and as new infrastructure is completed, the congestion will ease. With Riyadh’s population expected to double from 7.5 million to 15 million by 2030, the construction sector is racing against time.
But recent history has shown that major infrastructure projects can be delayed. The Riyadh Metro, a $23bn project also aimed at reducing congestion in the capital, is expected to open this year, five years later than its original opening date of 2018.
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